In the Melancholy Moonlight

Chapter IV: Where You Hold It All Together

Pull me closer now
Where you hold it all together
Seamless and bound

"Hold It All Together"
CHPTRS

The night of my first dosage of wolfsbane came far sooner than I would have liked. But as I had learned, the moon cycles never stopped, for anyone, for anything. No matter what happened, the moon continued to grow, peak, wane, disappear, grow, peak, wane, disappear.

I slipped out of the castle after my last class, dodging Hermione's questions about where I was going and disappearing among a crowd of fifth-year Ravenclaws, who were all much taller than me. I didn't slow down until I came to the bench Cedric and I had agreed upon, and from there, I sat and waited.

The plan was simple. This was step one. Every evening for the week leading up to the full moon, before sunset, Cedric would get the potion from Penny Haywood in front of the Hufflepuff common room and meet me outside on a bench far away from the castle grounds so I could take the potion where no one would see before heading to the Great Hall for dinner.

Step two came on the night of the full moon. Madam Pomfrey would accompany me to the edge of the Forbidden Forest as sunset began and give me the last dosage to take as soon as the sun set. Cedric had expressed concern for my safety in the forest, but Professor Dumbledore had assured them that as a sleepy wolf with my wits about me, I would be able to remain on the edge of the forest and sleep until sunrise without issue.

Step three came in the morning. Madam Pomfrey would meet me at Hagrid's hut at sunrise and escort me back to the castle, giving me a wideye potion to help me through the day.

The only people present in the meeting were Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, my brother, and myself, though I was informed that the three other Heads of Houses were aware of my, as Dumbledore had kindly called it, "condition."

"If you would like to tell other trusted friends, I would encourage it," Dumbledore had told me. "The two prior werewolves that came through this school would have had a much more difficult time without friends close by their sides who knew about the transformations. Perhaps Percy Weasley would be a good place to start, seeing as he is your prefect."

I had nodded, feeling somewhat ill at the thought of ever confessing my secret to anybody. "I will think about it, sir."

"Good," he had replied, his eyes locked on mine. It seemed for a second he tried to read my mind, but I receded inward into myself, the way I always did, and he looked away without further comment.

Cedric came along the path, a large goblet in hand.

"Hi there. How are you?" He sat next to me on the bench, carefully balancing the large goblet in his hands but glancing over at me once it was secure.

"I'm scared," I admitted. I glanced toward the sky for a second. "I think we only have to wait a couple more minutes."

He nodded sympathetically. "It's okay to be scared, Lucy. I'm here now, and I'm your brother. I'm not going anywhere. Do you want to talk about anything while we wait?"

I leaned back against the bench. "I can't think of anything in particular, other than that the sunset is pretty tonight. How about you?"

"It is pretty," he agreed. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. Have you thought any more about what I said last Saturday?"

"Well..." I sighed. "I have. But things have happened that are outside of my control so I haven't made a lot of progress."

"What happened, if you don't mind my asking?"